Project Description

The aim of the project is to analyse the future of regional cooperation in Central Europe not only within the framework of political cooperation, but also from the perspective of wider cooperation at the level of civil society and commercial subjects. The aim of the research team is to implement a complex and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the issues of regional cooperation.

The project will focus on the prospects and opportunities for the cooperation between the Visegrad group and other regional cooperation structures, first of all the EU Eastern Partnership and Black Sea Synergy, and on the potential of the involvement of the Visegrad Group in the EU regional strategies, with regard to the launching of EU Strategy for the Danube Region. The research team will discuss strong and weak points of the Visegrad cooperation in the post-integration period following the EU-enlargement in 2004 as well as recent activities of the V4 member states in the EU. Special attention will be given to the evaluation of the Polish and Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union (2011).

The second part of the project will focus on „domestic“ challenges for the Visegrad cooperation, particularly with an emphasis on strengthening the internal cohesion of the Central Europe in the context of challenges for EU stabilization in the „post-crisis“ period. Individual round-tables will be aimed at the issues of „political cohesion“, energy security, institutional development of the Visegrad group and at the cross-border infrastructure. Analysis of the recent trends of development of the “internal cohesion” of the V4 will generate a concluding recommendation of whether a separate regional strategy within the EU framework will increase the internal cohesion of Visegrad.

Target groups and groups benefiting from the project

The target group mainly comprises expert public whose focus of attention is the issues of regional cooperation in Central Europe. The project‘s findings will not only be utilised by broad academic community, for which the project has primarily been designed, but also by colleges and universities for educational purposes; in addition, the outcomes of the project will also raise the awareness of political elites, who make decisions on future regional cooperation in the V4 group. Secondary target groups therefore include civil servants, political elites and media representatives.